


a miniature sun

by Silverhearted



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Fluff, GASP! there was One Bed, Hurt/Comfort, It's really just penny being gay while della sleeps until she gets a nightmare, Nightmares, Sharing a Bed, Talking, only real vaguely tho, sorta?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-25 21:21:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20730950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverhearted/pseuds/Silverhearted
Summary: In which; Penumbra Can't Sleep





	a miniature sun

**Author's Note:**

> dabs

Penumbra couldn't sleep.

She watched the rise and fall of Della's relaxed breathing with soft eyes, instead.  
It was odd, she thought. Seeing Della asleep. Not necessarily bad- the relaxed movements and clear ease on her face were a comfort all in their own- but it was strange seeing the spitfire adventurer so quiet.

Part of her was endeared. For once, she didn't care enough to quiet the thought.

Maybe it was funny. They'd ended up roommates, again; despite the numberous spare rooms in the manor, neither was entirely too keen on being alone. Penumbra for the near-total lack of familiarity in the place, Della for.. her own reasons.  
She couldn't presume that amount of time isolated would do anyone especially well.  
So the arrangement fit them both well.

Penumbra shifted, moving to see Della better- all the while careful to avoid touching the duck. She still wasn't exactly sure of the boundaries, but that seemed definitely among the Do Nots.

She was certainly brave. Adventurous, daring to a fault. Della was passionate, and loud, and more considerate than she had any real right to be. Della loved and lived and fought for everything she believed in, for better and for worse.

She fought for over a decade, on the moon. To survive. To escape. To Come Home.  
Penumbra had certainly fought for many things, brave and ferocious and strong as her people needed her to be, but she felt quite certain she'd never fight for anything as hard as Della had. The thought filled her with equal amounts relief and respect.

Della was warm, in the way a hearthfire was. She loved so much, and so deeply, that sometimes Penumbra wondered if her reservoirs had any limit. She Cared.  
She cared about Her. That part still boggled her. It set off a warm emotion in her, too, one she wasn't sure she was ready to name.

She felt an old, familiar guilt coil in her gut as she remembered the seconds before Della's leaving the moon. She sabotaged her. And even still, Della hugged her warm and soft and sure, like a promise. And then Lunaris betrayed her.  
She remembered Dread, cold and sharp, and held her arms tight at the emotion. How long until Della remembered her place in that? How long until Della realized-

Della's face shifted.  
Penumbra was sure, for one panicked second, that she had somehow Worried Loud Enough to wake her bedmate, but- no. That wasn't it. Della's brow furrowed, breath picking up as her hands screwed into fists. Panic stole her features like a storm over the sky.  
Penumbra recognized this.  
A nightmare.

She'd had them before, on the moon- Penumbra never pried, but she had a few guesses as to the the content.  
Della thrashed with a noise like a whimper, and Penumbra remembered action.

She moved careful but quick, rising to shake the pilot gently, eyes searching for signs of awareness.  
"Della- Della, wake up, it's just another ni-,"

The duck's eyes were wide and red-rimmed as they snapped open, form pulling up sharply, her breath shakey but steadying as she searched Penumbra's face. Whatever she was looking for, she seemed to find it- she buried her face in the liuentant's neck, arms tight and definite around her back. Her shoulders shook with quiet tears, and Penumbra's heart ached. Nightmares were a bane of both of the them.

She rested her head carefully on Della's, rubbing soothing circles over the duck's back. Della always needed a moment to calm down, afterwards. Penumbra couldn't really blame her.

It took a moment for Della to pipe up.  
"You shouldn't be so nice to me."  
It was half-muffled. Even still, Penumbra responded more out of confusion than trouble hearing. Excuse her?  
"What?"

"I said you shouldn't be so nice to me." Della's voice was stubborn, quiet, almost angry- but in an inward way. She didn't need prompting to speak again. "I made your rank feel useless, I knew you didn't like me as a roommate but I Still stuck around, and I- Lunaris got the plans for the rocket because of me. I'm the reason you ended up space-tasered, and in moon jail, and your people got put in danger," She picked up steam as she spoke, growing more fervored as she went on. "And I- I'm the reason you can't go _home,"_ her voice cracked at the sentence.

"Basically everything bad that happened to you happened because of me, and I'm a bad friend and I _didn't even do the dishes,_ and you- you're still doing this! You're holding me even though it was just another one of my dumb nightmares."

Della seemed to crumple in on herself, holding tight but averting her eyes. She looked Tired. Penumbra watched her somewhere between worry and pity. How long had she been thinking about this? How long had this been building?  
Penny notched her brow, holding Della a little tighter. She felt herself grow to hate Lunaris a little more each day.  
She glared at a window.

"You are not, and never will be, to blame for Lunaris's faults."  
There was a sort of victory in that hate. It felt freeing. He had done wrong. She had rights to hate him. She could say as much aloud. She didn't have to fear it, hide it-  
But anger wouldn't help Della right now. She schooled her expression into something softer, firm but steady. She pulled back a bit to find Della's eyes.

"You helped save my people from a serious threat- albeit.. oddly," she squinted around her last few words, before shaking it off to continue.  
"You're the reason I was able to Find Out what Lunaris was planning. Getting electrocuted and imprisoned were both my fault too, you know- or his, technically, but- you know what I mean." She shook off the frustration, refocusing. Her eyes were a sure sort of definite as they re-found Della's.

"And you didn't trap me here. All you did was be Kind, Della- to everyone you met, even though you had No Logical Reason To. You- Della, you panicked when the emergency launch started. Not for fear of some machine malfunction, you just felt Bad breaking a Promise. That was your first thought. You care more than any creature logically should be capable. It is _not your_ fault that someone took advantage of that. You are not a bad friend, Della Duck. There's ample evidence to the contrary."  
Penumbra's voice rung fierce with belief.

Della paused, letting quiet filter back into the room for a second before responding. She mulled over Penumbra's words in her head, considering.  
When she spoke up, it was small, half-croaked- but not entirely dour.  
"Even if I'm a bad roommate?"

"I've come to accept that part of you," Penumbra demurred. Della answered with a snorted laugh, too tired out by the night for a proper cackle. Penumbra had long given up on not being endeared by it.

The duck smiled against her, shifting to a slightly more comfortable position. "Shoot, you're gonna make me feel bad about hogging the blanket later. Quit that." She joked easily enough, seeming better at ease now.

Her eyes fell downcast, and Penumbra readied another reassurance- but what she said caught her off-guard. Della seemed to have a knack for doing that.

"Thank you," Della murmured, face tired but smile terribly, awfully honest. Penumbra decided abruptly that she'd do anything she could to ensure that smile continued to exist.

"Yeah. No problem, roomie," she mumbled back, still stunned by the duck cuddled into her.

Penumbra was growing increasingly more aware of just how close they were, now that the panic was over. Was this normal? She was almost definitely certain this had never happened on the moon. At least- Della usually let _go_ eventually.

She glanced back down to Della to see what exactly the.. Hold-up, was, but-  
Oh.

Della snoozed lightly, arms loose now around her. She had been caught in thought longer than she meant. Penumbra blinked, before letting out a sigh farther from exasperated than she may be willing to admit.  
"Ah."

She held Della in place carefully as she shifted, managing to lay back in the bed with the pilot sprawled over her. Waking the duck, clearly, was a non-option.

Della was warm, she decided, eyes finally slipping shut with hope of gaining sleep. A miniature sun to bask in. Living space heater.  
Penumbra smiled softly at the thought, giving a half-snort of amusement when Della murmured something in her sleep, and let herself drift away.

(Future Penumbra could deal with this.)


End file.
